Ground Breaker St. Denny Dubbel Ale

A Seasonal Belgian Brew

This is the first Belgian style beer review for this site! Katrina and I picked up this Dubbel style ale over the holidays season and have been saving it for this review. St. Denny’s is one of Ground Breaker’s seasonal brews, a winter 2015 batch to be exact. It’s made with beet and date sugar, along with the Ground Breaker classics: lentils and chestnuts. (I would love to get some chestnuts for our next home brew.)

Ground Breaker Brewing’s St. Denny

Dubbel Style Ale made with Beet and Date Sugar

This dubbel has a Carmel-y body and a earthy brown color. When held up to the light, you can’t see through it. The head is surprisingly thin for the body and texture it has to offer. Upon my first sip, the first characteristic that I reacted to was the sweetness. Dubbel the sugar. ;)

The beer is actually quite smooth. Not at all bitter. (25 IBU) It’s very dessert-like to me. Not the style I typically reach for, but I appreciate it’s complexity none the less. I must say, it is very drinkable, but at an ABV of 6.5%, it’s not a light beer.

If I had one complaint, it would be that it’s carbonation is quite mild. I like my beer to have a little more zap to it. It’s interesting, because it seemed quite bubbly when I poured it, but they quickly disolved and now–to be honest, my pint of beer resembles an muddy iced tea. (I mean that in the nicest possible way.) Still tastes great, but it is slightly flatter than I prefer.

All in all, this is not my favorite Ground Breaker. To be honest though, this isn’t my style preference and I just haven’t tasted many Belgian ales–particularly gluten free ones. So I don’t have a whole lot to compare it to. I would definitely encourage you to read Katrina’s review of this beer too, as she may have a different take on it. (She has a softer spot for Belgians than I do.)